MLB fashion just got a bit better. The Padres on Saturday night unveiled their new uniforms for the 2020 season and beyond. The good news? The brown is back. Yes, the Padres are going back to their brown-and-gold roots, and it says here it's about time.
The Padres made it official with an unveiling ceremony at Petco Park. Let's cut to the color sports photography straightaway:
Your city. Your colors. #BrownIsBack and it’s better than ever! pic.twitter.com/ykPW6aW4R7
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) November 10, 2019
As you can see, they're going with brown pinstripes on the home and road jerseys, and there's a brown alternate top. They're also going with brown hats with gold lettering on all occasions. And now the same thing, except with recreational explosives:
It's poppin' 💥💥💥 #BrownIsBack pic.twitter.com/HZyV22Vrmm
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) November 10, 2019
And here's a better look at the greatest of these, the home whites:
As Chris Creamer of the very excellent SportsLogos.net notes, the Padres have subtly tweaked the font of the "SD," and they've also incorporated the "swinging friar" logo as a sleeve patch.
The Padres were some variation of brown and gold/mustard from their inception in 1969 through 1984. In 1985, they swapped out yellow for orange, and in 1991 brown went away in favor of blue. For the 1999 season, the Pads switched to blue and white, and since then they've had variations of blue and white/gold as their primaries. According to this scribe and his authoritative opinions, too many teams are blue these days, so the return to distinctive brown is a belated and welcome thing. While the Padres have used their right and proper colors as alternates since 2016, this is the first time brown and gold have been the go-to hues in more than 35 years.
There's long been a clamoring for the return of the Padres' vintage look, and the club has at last made that happen. Combine the enthusiasm over this change with the excellent young talent in the place and the commitment to spending, and the Padres are looking resurgent both as a team on the field and as a brand off of it.
Speaking off all that, team chairman Ron Fowler cut to the chase during the Saturday unveiling:
"People wanted brown and we gave it to them. Now we've got to start winning baseball games."
Sure, sure, sure, but the most important thing is looking good.